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Alester Rykker
Alester Rykker is the head of House Rykker and Lord of Duskendale and the Dun Fort. Appearance Alester Rykker is the very embodiment of vitality. He was never blessed with great height, standing at best a hand's span below his peers, but his broad-shouldered, compact form possesses obvious strength. Though Alester does not neglect personal maintenance, dark stubble usually stands out against his light complexion. Alester's blue eyes have not been darkened by the approach of middle age, but his light brown hair is streaked with grey and slowly receding, and it has been silvered at the temples since he was a man of eight and twenty. History Youth In the midst of the winter, Alester Rykker was born, the eldest son of Ser Horace Rykker, who was himself the eldest son of the aging Lord Jacelyn Rykker. Alester's mother, a Massey, died in childbirth later that same winter, and Ser Horace was roundly censured by his father for getting his wife with child twice during the long winter. Once the spring winds settled over Duskendale, Ser Horace quit the Dun Fort for the country, taking the 4-year-old Alester with him. In the country, Ser Horace set up an estate around the towerhouse at Cold Spring, raising eyebrows among his father's supporters. There, Ser Horace married again, this time to a Buckwell, and Cold Spring soon welcomed Alester's younger half-brother and -sister. Though the Rykkers still hold great pride in their lordship over Duskendale, Alester still prefers Cold Spring to the Dun Fort, associating the towerhouse estate with his childhood. When Alester was 8 years old, he returned to the Dun Fort with his father. Because the willful Lord Jacelyn had not approved Ser Horace's second marriage, Alester and his father resided in the Dun Fort without Horace's Buckwell wife or their two other children. As a result, these years in the Dun Fort were lonely for Alester. Ser Horace rose to the lordship with his father's passing three years later. Though Alester's siblings came to the Dun Fort soon after Lord Horace established his court, Alester left soon after as a squire to Ser Harys Harte, the Knight of the Quiver. Alester wintered with Ser Harys, learning knightly ways. Once spring arrived in Alester's 16th year, he traveled Westeros with Ser Harys, attending tournaments great and small. It was not until Alester's knighting at the age of 19 that he returned to the Dun Fort. At the Dun Fort, his father did not involve Alester in his affairs willingly. In the way of sons shunned by their fathers, Lord Horace did not willfully neglect Alester, but he did not often seek his counsel at first. Ser Alester intruded upon Duskendale's affairs in some ways, working for a time with managing customs, then leading the Watch, and even traveling to the Free Cities for a time following the increasing disruptions to Narrow Sea trade caused by Stepstones piracy and religious conflict in Essos. Alester's journey across the Narrow Sea was only made possible after his aunt Elaena's wedding to Orys Velaryon. After meeting Velaryon at his wedding, Alester used his personal connection with his aunt Elaena to help him secure passage to Pentos. From this time onward, Alester has considered himself indebted to Orys. Ser Alester returned to Duskendale after learning of Grazdan the Gruesome naming himself King of the Stepstones. Remembering the Ninepenny Kings, Alester called for his lord father to petition the king for a cleansing of the Stepstones. Lord Horace, perhaps seeing his own neglect as the cause of his son's increasing impetuousness, instead gave Ser Alester a role in his councils. Ser Alester was also quickly married off to Bethany Massey. Until Lord Horace's death at the age of 46 in 361 AC, Ser Alester learned the ways of lordship at his father's side. Lord of Duskendale and the Dun Fort As Lord of Duskendale, Alester has had little hardship. His half-sister, Carellen, has been married off to a cadet branch of House Rosby. His half-brother, Ser Donnor, serves ably as his right hand. He has seen the birth of three of his four children during this time, and all the while, Duskendale's trade has resumed and even increased. He still keeps a steady eye on the Stepstones, carrying the sliver of his old desire to see the Stepstones scoured anew. With a new king and peace restored to Westeros, Alester hopes that the time is finally ripe. He also knows that his eldest son, the second of his children with Bethany Massey, will have to be squired soon enough. As a result of the distance of his childhood, Alester dotes on his children overmuch, especially on his daughters. The Dun Fort has been transformed from his father's and grandfather's days, now clearly the home of a loving family and bustling court. Travelers with whom Alester is affable stay for some time in the Dun Fort, even extending to those merchants who frequent the port of Duskendale with profitable cargo, especially if they have provided clever gifts for the Rykker children in the past. Alester is also known to leave the Dun Fort for Cold Spring once a year with his family, leaving his house seat in the care of Ser Donnor, his castellan. Some among the Byrches do not agree with this behavior, calling him the Lord of Cold Spring within their circles rather than Lord of Duskendale. When Ser Harys Harte brought this matter before Alester, Alester sent his former master from his table. Only in recent months has Lord Alester repaired his relationship with the Knight of the Quiver by naming him castellan following his brother's departure from the role. Alester counts few men among his friends, also likely the result of his secluded childhood - Ser Harys Harte, Alester's half-brother Ser Donnor, Alester's good-brother Ser Terrence Massey, and the Pentoshi merchant Dorion Agapitos. Timeline 336 AC: Alester is born. 339 AC: Alester's mother, Myranda Massey, dies. 340 AC: Alester leaves Duskendale for Cold Spring. 342 AC: Alester's father marries Una Buckwell. 343 AC: Alester's half-brother Donnor is born. 344 AC: Alester and his father return to the Dun Fort. 345 AC: Alester's half-sister Carellen is born. 348 AC: Alester's father becomes Lord of Duskendale. 348 AC: Alester becomes squire to Ser Harys Harte, the Knight of the Quiver. He winters at Shatterstone Bridge with Ser Harys, training as a squire. 352 AC: Alester leaves with Ser Harys to tourneys throughout Westeros. 355 AC: Alester is knighted and returns to the Dun Fort. He participates in his first tourney at Rosby, one of only two times he enters the list. 359 AC: Alester leaves Duskendale for Pentos on a whim; in that city, he befriends sellsail-turned-merchant Dorion Agapitos. 360 AC: Alester returns to Duskendale, thinking that Grazdan's seizure of the Stepstones will ignite a war with Westeros. 360 AC: Alester marries Bethany Massey. 360 AC: Alester's first child, Myranda, is born. 361 AC: Alester rises to lordship of Duskendale. 362 AC: Alester's second child and heir, Myles, is born. 363 AC: Alester competes in the tourney he holds in honor of his son's first nameday despite his wife's arguments, to the consternation of his wife and vassals. Luckily, he is unhorsed by Ser Garrett Rosby in the quarter-finals, sparing himself the dishonor of awarding himself the grand prize. 363 AC: Alester marries his half-sister Carellen to Ser Garrett Rosby. 365 AC: Alester's third child, Ryam, is born. 367 AC: Alester fourth child, Leana, is born. 369 AC: Alester ignites gossip in the Dun Fort after sending Ser Harys Harte from his hall in the midst of a meal. 371 AC: Alester gifts Cold Spring to his brother, Ser Donnor Rykker, making him a landed knight. Ser Harys Harte is welcomed to Duskendale as the new castellan of the Dun Fort. Family http://www.familyecho.com/?p=CRC1O&c=16emsailxoa&f=571261442374362774 Category:Characters from the Crownlands